MAPOLY SU ELECTION: A broacher’s expectations and opinion

Written by Oluwatobi Odeyinka

Student unionism is one concept that fascinates me a lot and I’ve always wanted to be part of it. It is great pleasure to be a student of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic. I have come across personalities who possess the spirit of unionism but I must say the spirit seems to be caged in departmental secretariats.

It is quite unfortunate that there are still misconceptions about unionism on campus. Some equate it to agitation through violence, thuggery and unnecessary exuberance. This is not limited to our own MAPOLY as some student union leaders across Nigerian institutions still see the freedom they enjoy as an opportunity to cause mayhem and anarchy in their institutions.

“MAPOLY has enjoyed (relatively) some level of peace and tranquility without a student union”, a senior student said in an argument,disregarding the yearnings for the return of unionism on campus. This no doubt would be the sentiment of the school authority but I think the absence of a student union has no bearing on the peace and harmony enjoyed on MAPOLY campus. Instead, it should be attributed to compliance to rules and discipline exhibited by the students as well as the acclaimed doggedness and administrative ingenuity of the school management.

Well, in broaching the subject matter. It is important for everyone to understand what unionism and politics on campus entails. The student union is supposed to promote unity, orderliness and healthy relationship between students, school authority and state/federal government. It should complement the academic experience through extensive variety of culture, educational, social and recreational programs.

My ideology on unionism is to fight for the rights and interests of the students but this responsibility should be carried out with maturity and discipline. The absence of student union in MAPOLY has left so many gaps unfilled.

Students rights have been trample on; rules have been broken especially by lecturers, with no one having the audacity to ask pertinent questions; students’ results are locked up in drawers without justifiable or plausible reason. All of these affirm the opinion that unionism is still en-route for MAPOLY.

The trending issue in MAPOLY, which is the conversion to MAUSTECH and establishment of Ogun State Polytechnic, Ipokia, is still vague to the students. The lecturers have had series of deliberations so as to protect their interest but that student whose head is being volleyed about by ASUP and the government is waiting for the yet to be elected unionists to come make deliberations.

While I do not see anything wrong in showing patience. I pray we take out steps right. The student union election is very much around the corner and it behoves every student to be watchful and participate with an alutaristic mind. If you averagely, a student of MAPOLY why he supports a candidate. You’d hear responses like: S/he is in my department. S/he is in our forum (I still have my reservation on this); He is my namesake; She is female; bla blab la. This is because the campaigning, like the unproductive politicking in the Nigerian polity, is based on sharing gifts, leaflets and posters with little/no intellectual challenge faced by the candidates.

I share the sentiment that the school (through Directorate of student affairs) should organized debates for the aspirants so that they can adequately propagate their manifestos and considerably reveal their true intentions. This would shift their campaign focus from Panseke to a rather academic, and saner setting. I am one who believes in critical assessment of political aspirants. As much as we, students desire some level of freedom which we deserve, it is not unnecessary to regard some control measures that are/would be put in place by the school authority. Qualification by gp is one of those measures if we don’t want every Tom, Dick and Harry to become student union leader. However, to achieve professionalism and good representation in the activities of student union, we need to define some positions by departments/school. I say this advisedly and I pray no one take umbrage.

The position of PRO should be a prerogative of students Mass Communication, as they are trained to be umpires; they have adequate knowledge in the area of Human Relations and communication. I need not sugar-coat, Mass Communicators, no doubt, know the pros and cons of Public Relations.

I expect the next student union leaders to see their emergence as a call to serve not an opportunity to ‘blow’. They should strive to promote discipline for “Violence has never been a solution to any problem”. The era of destruction of properties and disruption of academic studies is gone and shall never return again.

We should table our grievances reasonably and respectfully. Some of the demands we make are sometimes beyond the capacity of the school authority.

I look forward to a mature and responsible student union; effective and selfless leadership; and violent-free representation. I enjoin every student to be a unionist is his/her own capacity.

God bless you. God bless me. God bless MAPOLY